Bigfork’s Santistevan to Play for Dawson
DCC Coach Joe Peterson announced the signing of the 7th player in the Buccaneers 2018 recruiting class. 6’7 forward Beau Santistevan helped Bigfork win the Class B State Tournament in March and was named MVP of the State Tournament. He joins Class C standout CJ Nelson of Scobey and Class AA standout Hunter McKinney of Great Falls in Dawson’s recruiting class. Coach Peterson was excited, “Beau is a great player and an even better person. He has the size and skill to be able to help in a lot of ways inside and outside. He understands the game well, competes hard and is a winner!”
Santistevan is a winner indeed. He closed out his high school career by leading Bigfork to an undefeated State Championship season, finishing 24-0. As a junior, he was selected All-Conference, All-State and led his team to a 19-6 record. As a senior, he received the same honors but added the state championship and MVP trophies to go along with others. Santistevan averaged 17 ppg, 8 rpg and 3 bpg and shot 68% from the field, 38% from the 3-point line and 77% from the charity stripe. In the state championship game he was 11-11 from the free throw line.
The Bigfork standout commented, “Thanks to my friends, family, and coaches for helping me achieve this lifelong goal, and thanks to Dawson for giving me this opportunity.”
DCC has had a lot of success with Montana recruits in Peterson’s three years at the helm. Christian Kappel from Billings West and Evan Jones from Laurel were both All-conference and All-region players in the 2015-2016 season and Brent Finn of Big Timber was All-Conference and All-Region this past season. Other players from Montana such as Bret Vester, Gavin McPherson and Stefan Stubbs from Glendive as well as Josh Stickel from Terry, Parker Westgard from MonDak and Tyler Tanner from Arlee have also played key roles in the program. Santistevan, Nelson and McKinny join returning player Reece Green of CMR to carry on the strong tradition of the Buccaneer program and their in-state recruits.
